Bulletins and News Discussion from May 12th to May 18th, 2025 - Nuclear War Averted (Hopefully)!

Image is from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists' recent article on Kashmir.

It looks like the spat between India and Pakistan could be dying down, due to a new ceasefire. As of the time of me writing this paragraph, it seems both sides want to maintain it (despite some reports of violations here and there).

Both sides have declared victory, which is completely expected given their mutual political parties and nationalist histories. It's a little harder to say which side has actually won, as both sides seem to have managed to shoot down aircraft and hit military bases. India has, in my opinion, had the more embarrassing moments, but international conflicts aren't cringe compilations. I feel no good-will towards Pakistan's comprador government, but it is at least nice to see Modi knocked down a few pegs. Regardless of the final technical victor, it's obvious that - if the ceasefire is maintained - who won are the hundreds of millions of people who won't have to live in fear of dying in nuclear hellfire.

This conflict is a good example of what multipolarity will truly entail. Countries that have been previously limited in their nationalist ambitions by American pressure will now take opportunities to revolt, sometimes against America itself, and sometimes against other countries in their regional neighbourhood. It's also why, as communists, our goals do not stop at multipolarity; it is merely the establishing act of a new era of agitation against peripheral and semi-peripheral capitalist countries that are forming powerful national bourgeoisie classes as the international American capitalists are forced away.

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FORMER URUGUAYAN PRESIDENT PEPE MUJICA PASSES AWAY
José “Pepe” Mujica, former president of Uruguay and one of the greatest icons of the Latin American left, died on Tuesday (13) at the age of 89. Battling oesophageal cancer and an autoimmune disease, he was under palliative care and decided to stop treatment in January.
Mujica was a guerrilla fighter, imprisoned for almost 15 years during the dictatorship, seven of them in solitary confinement. After re-democratization, he governed Uruguay between 2010 and 2015, always faithful to a simple style. He donated 90% of his salary, lived on a farm and drove an 82 VW Beetle. Under his leadership, Uruguay advanced progressive policies such as the legalization of abortion and the decriminalization of marijuana. "You need to give meaning to life. Fight for happiness, not just wealth."
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- This is extremely saddening...
  
  Yes, at least he saw his candidate and party win last elections against the neoliberals. And I still find it very sad how the two leftist presidents of Uruguay died of cancer, Tabaré Vázquez was also an oncologist and died of cancer in 2020.
- I hate the way Mujica is glazed in the west. He's portrayed as this "poor president" for living a simple life and rejecting most of his salary and benefits, and what they glaze of him isn't his revolutionary activity but the fact that he was in jail. Spanish newspapers like El País have his death on the cover page, when they're everything he fought against during his youth (was his presidency really that progressive economically? I know about the civil rights but it wasn't really anticapitalist was it?).
  Meanwhile, contemporary revolutionaries and anti-imperialists like Ibrahim Traoré are ignored or vilified in western media. The only article I could find about Traoré is from 2024, essentially saying "this junta dictator is likely gonna pass some really bad anti-LGBTQ policy" because of a law proposal that he later rejected. Disgusting shit.
  Edit: this is related to socialism being associated to a poverty cult. Anti-consumerism is morally correct mostly because of material necessity, distribution of scarce goods, and ecology. But fuck me if I'm not gonna be happier having a washing machine and access to electricity than breaking my back washing my clothes by hand! Rejecting mindless capitalist consumerism is good, valuing politicians based on their materialist behaviours instead of their actual policy is stupid.
  
  (was his presidency really that progressive economically? I know about the civil rights but it wasn't really anticapitalist was it?).
  Mujica and Tabare Vazquez (The other leftist who was president before and after Mujica, who also died of cancer, but no one in the West talks about him bc he had public disputes with the son of the former Uruguayan Dictator, Bordaberry, and bc he was anti-abortion) were both democratic socialists, but they didn't openly change the capitalist system, they basically reformed the social programs to grant aid and rights to trade unions and minorities.
  Their goverments (the Broad Front Goverment) are more well remembered for their close relation with Brazil (under the workers' party goverments), Argentina (under the left-wing of Justicialist party) and with Bolivarian Venezuela. Brazil and Argentina (arguable Uruguay and Paraguay are buffer/satellite states of Brazil and Argentina) granted a lot of aid and money to Uruguay during this period, which they used to develop the country and the social programs. Mujica also promoted South American unity.
- It was a long time coming, but it is still very sad.
  Hasta la victoria, Pepe. Buen viaje.

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